W. Visayas runs magnitude 7.3 earthquake drill Thursday

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

ILOILO CITY – Western Visayas will test its disaster response, tactical interoperability, and emergency communication systems under a simulated magnitude 7.3 earthquake during the third-quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill on Thursday, Sept. 10.

The Office of Civil Defense 6 (OCD-6) said the provincial government of Iloilo will spearhead the region’s leg of the exercise, with three simulation sites selected to showcase the readiness of responders in search and rescue, collapsed structure search and rescue (CSSR), and vehicle extrication.

The functional exercise is built around a simulated magnitude 7.3 earthquake originating from the active West Panay Fault, with its epicenter 3.1 kilometers east of the fault line at a depth of 10 kilometers.

“We have three areas designated as pilot areas to showcase the readiness not only in rescue operations but also in CSSR and, at the same time, vehicle extrication,” OCD-6 public information officer Maria Christina Mayor said Tuesday, Sept. 8.

The simulation sites are the Iloilo Provincial Capitol compound, the Aganan Flyover in Pavia, and the Oton-Batiano Bridge.

“We need to make it as believable as possible. If there is an earthquake, not only one area is affected. If the scenario is a 7.3 magnitude earthquake, almost all in the province of Iloilo will be affected, so why not make it as believable as possible,” she added.

At 2 p.m., a 15-second alarm will sound across the Capitol to represent active ground shaking, immediately followed by a continuous building alarm signaling all occupants to evacuate.

The simulated disaster is projected to cause widespread disruption, including partial damage to nonstructural elements in public facilities, falling debris, blocked routes, and trapped or disoriented victims across multiple floors.

The drill features simultaneous emergency scenarios designed to test specialized rescue teams.

Search and rescue operations will be conducted inside the Provincial Capitol, along with a high-angle rooftop extraction exercise.

Concurrent localized drills will take place in Pavia and Oton to test the coordination of local disaster risk reduction and management offices during cascading provincial disasters.

The simulated earthquake will cause a structural failure on the Aganan Flyover in Pavia.

Local responders are expected to secure the perimeter, manage heavy traffic, and conduct CSSR operations to extricate two trapped victims.

At the Oton-Batiano Bridge, a vehicle will lose control because of ground shaking and road obstructions.

Local responders are expected to stabilize the damaged vehicle and conduct a vehicular extrication operation to rescue a trapped passenger with a lower-leg injury.

The exercise will operate under the Incident Command System and involve more than 158 participants, including 134 active responders and players from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine Red Cross, and local government units.

“We need to see the coordination between the agencies, and at the same time, we will maintain one command center, which is the Iloilo Provincial Capitol, which will lead the coordination during the actual exercises,” Mayor said.

The Provincial Emergency Operations Center and Incident Management Team will coordinate the localized response alongside specialized traffic and security personnel to maintain safety across all active drill sites.

Mayor said the drill is expected to cause only minimal disruption to the public because public schools and some private schools are on term break.

“Thankfully, there are no classes because the students are already on term break in public schools and some private schools, and our drill is at 2 p.m., so we expect less traffic,” she said.

She noted, however, that the exercise may still inconvenience motorists.

The West Panay Fault is among the active fault systems on Panay Island mapped by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, traversing Antique and neighboring provinces on the island’s western side.

The NSED is held quarterly nationwide by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council through the Office of Civil Defense.